Shanks parallel to strings

[Phillip Ford]

>Hi Phil,
>....
>>   I remember lots of discussions and I was aware that your action 
>>was set up to have the jack / knuckle contact point on the line at 
>>half stroke, but I didn't remember that you were advocating short 
>>boring the hammers.
>
>I'm not advocating it with our own action, since it is designed for 
>the shank to be horizontal at strike. But for conventional 
>contemporary actions, over centering really helps.

Any particular reason that you chose for the shank to be horizontal at strike?

>....
>>2.  Does it improve feel or performance of the action to have the 
>>jack/knuckle contact point above the magic line at letoff?
>
>It probably would assist let-off slightly, since the surface of the 
>roller would tend to be travelling more with the direction of the 
>jack surface as it moves towards the let-off position. But that's 
>not the reason for setting it up in this manner.

What is your reason?  Minimizing friction?

>....
>I've been following this thread. But since I have no particular 
>opinion on the matter of mass distribution of the hammer/shank 
>assembly, and its effect on tone, I'm quite content to read other 
>opinions.
>
>Ron O.

I don't have an opinion either at this point.  Just conjecture.  I do 
think the idea that something other than the weight of the hammer, or 
the SW of the hammer/shank assembly, affects the tone or playability 
is worth investigating.  Angle of hammer to string, angle of hammer 
to shank, inertia of hammer assembly, center of percussion of hammer 
assembly, designing shank to flex more or less, etc.

Phil Ford